Las Vegas, NV 04/11/2011- NAB Show 2011 Fixstars Corporation today announced its release of Accelcoder v.2.2, the newest version of the Software Encoder. The update features a 2D/3D Express Authoring tool, allowing the output video to be written directly to a Blu-ray disc. The software will be demonstrated in Booth #SU9120 during NAB 2011.

The large-capacity of the Blu-ray disc is suitable as a packaged media, but it can also be used as a media for previews and promotions during the stages of high-quality 2D/3D video production. However, creating a Blu-ray disc requires two distinct procedures, which are encoding of the video, and authoring of the encoded data, requiring specialized knowledge, time, and equipment investment.

The newly added Express Authoring feature in Accelcoder v2.2 allows the encoding and the authoring to be performed seamlessly on one machine. Without adding much overhead in the workflow, the end result of a Blu-ray disc can be achieved in a simple and efficient manner.

Workflow when using the Express Authoring Tool

“As graphics quality keeps rising over time, we are seeing a change in how video is being transferred for checking. Although data transfer over the network is the most common method within the production, clients often must follow certain procedures in order to create an environment in which the movie can be played back. Standard formatted media such as Blu-ray, might just be the solution we are looking for. As far as 3D video is concerned, Blu-ray the media to use,” said Masaru Suzuki, manager of information systems at Shirogumi Inc., Japan’s leading movie production site. “The Express Authoring capability in the updated Accelcoder will be helpful in 3D movie production. The fast, high-quality encoding from the Accelcoder in conjunction with this functionality will allow us to focus solely on the movie production, which we believe will ultimately result in a step forward for our content market. Here at Shirogumi, we are looking forward to start using Blu-ray discs as the primary method for checking our work.”

The update has improved functionality and added new features:

• External playback of encoded data
By using the Bluefish444 video capture card on the Accelcoder, the user can now display the encoded data to an external monitor.

• Live capture encoding from cameraIn
addition to the VTR deck, the encoding can now be performed from a video captured using a camera.

• Video quality improvement of CBR encoding

• Display stream infoIn
the encoding result preview, the local bit-rate and CPB graph can be displayed.

• Bug fixes
Accelcoder v2.2 will be available at the end of April. For current Accelcoder users, the new features will be made available as a software update.

Fixstars will be showcasing the updated Accelcoder at the NAB Show in Las Vegas starting April 11th.

About Shirogumi Inc.
Shirogumi is Japan’s leading movie production company, creating numerous movies, commercials, and animations. A specialist in VFX, Shirogumi creators have been using the most cutting-edge computer graphics technology since it was founded. The company was founded in 1974 and is based in Tokyo, Japan.

About Fixstars Corporation
Founded in 2002, Fixstars is a leader in software development specializing in multi-core processors. Fixstars provides solutions mainly in financial, medical, industrial, and digital media fields, who has benefited from increased processing speed of massive amount of data in multi-core environment. For more information, visit http://www.fixstars.com

* Express Authoring does not have features such as adding a title or menus. BD-J is not supported. Also, the produced Blu-ray is not guaranteed to be played back on every Blu-ray player. 720/60p for BD3D is not supported.Supported audio is Linear PCM only.